Last week, we looked at five different embroidered versions of the same Adoration of the Magi design. By changing materials and embroidery techniques, these late 15th and early 16th century embroideries look quite different from each other. The scene was part of four chasubles and a loose chasuble cross. But Read more
If you have followed this blog for a while, you already know that medieval goldwork embroidery was mass-produced. The designs were used more than once, sometimes even on the same vestment. Survived have mainly the simpler single-figure orphreys or the, possibly block-printed, naive embroidered scenes from Germany. But that’s not Read more
Last week, I wrote about the embroidered late medieval vestments on display in the St Nicolai Church in Kalkar. We looked in depth at the richly embroidered chasuble donated by Wolter van Riswick in AD 1530. This week, we’ll examine a splendidly embroidered cope and dalmatic, also kept in the Read more
Last year, I visited the St Nicolai Church in Kalkar. The church inventory lists more than 100 medieval vestments in AD 1543.
Last week, I discussed some Opus anglicanum pieces that show underside couched silk worked in a brick pattern. I wondered what the benefits were of using underside couching instead of traditional brick stitch. As I had done underside couching with a metal thread before, I imagined that underside couching with silk would Read more
While researching the grave finds of some of these bishops and kings, I also came across other small embroidered pieces that piqued my curiosity. When we think of Opus anglicanum, we think of underside couched gold threads. However, the embroiderers also underside couched silk. The most famous example is the Syon cope. Read more
Last week, we looked at three pairs of stockings from two kings and a bishop. The oldest pair dated to the 11th century, and the other two were from the late 12th century. This week, we will look at the grave finds of three bishops who lived in the 13th Read more
When I was updating my database on medieval goldwork embroidery, I came across beautifully embroidered ceremonial stockings. The use of these stockings ended after the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Bishops, but also some male nobility, were laid to rest in them. They are often the best-preserved part of the Read more
German medieval embroideries are often characterised by a composite thread not seen elsewhere: gold gimp. This is a relatively thick piece of string wrapped with a thin thread of membrane gold (gilt animal gut wrapped around a linen core). Was this a ready-made thread? Did the embroiderers make the thread themselves? Is Read more
This blog post is taking way longer to write than I intended. Sorry, I fell down a rabbit hole. And then another one :). I will find myself in both holes in the state library in Munich on Friday. What happened? As always, I think I have seen the same Read more